Mirrors
by Anei Aikouka
Summary: Ryou reflects on the spirit of the Ring... and how he can’t seem to get rid of him.


Mirrors  
  
Ryou looked in the mirror one last time before heading out the door. He still couldn't see it, the sight of himself in the mirror evoked familiar memories of his yami, but he still didn't understand what it was that made others think that they were on and the same. Bakura looked cold, cruel... evil. He didn't look like that... did he?  
Firmly he wiped away the tears that had sprung into his eyes at the familiar and painful subject, turning his mind instead to the friends waiting for him at school. Yugi and the others at least understood that he couldn't be blamed for all the things his yami did, even if they couldn't tell one from the other. 'Had Bakura looked like him once?' he wondered as he ran down the path, clutching the straps of his backpack to prevent them from slipping off. He really didn't feel up to scrambling around on the ground trying to pick them up today. Not after the thoughts he had woken up with.  
Thoughts of his yami were always strange ones, always disturbing. No matter how much Ryou tried he couldn't hate the spirit. He didn't know why. He had every reason to hate him. Bakura was the one who had driven all his previous friends away after all. If it weren't for the Millennium Ring he would be a normal teen and be able to live a normal life. But no. The Ring had chosen him to be the host for the evil spirit it contained and his life had never been the same since. The worst thing about it, or at least, he thought it was the worst, was that he couldn't seem to make himself feel the way he was supposed to. He still hated the things that the spirit did when he took control of Ryou's body, but he couldn't hate the spirit, and he couldn't bring himself to throw away the cursed Millennium Ring.  
He still couldn't look into a mirror without shuddering, afraid that what he saw was not a reflection of himself but the physical form of his other self, the yami side. He hated knowing that Bakura was a part of himself. It was a realization that he had come to not too long ago, and he still couldn't bring himself to accept it. Something – no someone – that evil could never be a part of him. But he was. Ryou and Bakura were one, much as he hated the thought, and he couldn't ever be himself again knowing that he could be taken over at any time. He couldn't control it, he never could, and the change would happen with or without his will. Often he never even realized that anything had happened, and only knew that the spirit had been out again by the reactions of his friends the next time they saw him. The pain that the spirit caused him didn't seem to be intentional, in fact, Ryou had wondered several times whether the reason he never knew what had happened was because Bakura didn't want him to be unhappy about it, but it was still there, that ever-present malaise, the disease that ate away at his soul.  
Loss was becoming a normal thing to him; he was used to meeting someone and moving away mere days later, or having them mysteriously disappear off the face of the earth. Even that was better than having them found sprawled out somewhere in a coma, while a matching doll appeared in his Monster World game. He hated the fact that he couldn't see anyone without wondering how much longer they were going to be alive. He hated the constant uncertainty of his life. He hated the fact that his body wasn't his own. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't hate Bakura.  
Maybe it had something to do with what both Yugi and Malik seemed to agree on. It was surprising, since they were still enemies despite having resolved their worst differences and being civil to each other now. They still agreed that Light and Darkness could not exist on their own. The Light needed the Darkness and the Darkness needed the Light. How two such opposites could come to need each other had still not been explained to Ryou's satisfaction, but that seemed to be the case. Light and Darkness coexisted, and no matter how tenuous their bond was, it could not be broken.  
How would anyone know what Darkness was if they hadn't seen the Light?Asked the too familiar voice. Bakura, apparently, had gotten tired of Ryou's rambling thoughts and had decided to interrupt. And if there was no Darkness how would they know to appreciate Light? We are meant to be together, and that can't be changed.Ryou considered this for a moment and then smiled. He had the rest of his life to figure out the particulars, but at least he knew that they wouldn't change.  
  
Owari. 


End file.
